Medical Dictionary
Main Entry:
Can·a·van disease Pronunciation:
'kan-&-"van- Variant:
also Can·a·van's disease /-"vanz-/ Function:
noun : a rare usually fatal demyelinating disease of infancy that is characterized by spongy degeneration of the brain caused by an enzyme deficiency inherited as an autosomalrecessive trait and that typically affects individuals of eastern European Jewish ancestry
Canavan, Myrtelle May (1879–1953), American pathologist. Canavan served as apathologist for Boston State Hospital and the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. She also held positions on the faculty of Boston medical schools. Her areas of research included chronicmanganese poisoning, enostosis, the pathology of the mentally retarded, and the mental health of the offspring of schizophrenics. She described Canavan disease in 1931.
